The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A PROLONGED power outage in Central New Providence forced a family to scramble for generator fuel yesterday to power an electric bed for their elderly, bedridden aunt, highlighting the strain extended outages are placing on vulnerable residents and their families.

The outage began shortly after 6pm on Wednesday and lasted until around 11.30am yesterday, affecting communities including Yellow Elder Gardens, Stapledon Gardens, Harold Road, Blue Hill Heights and surrounding areas.

BPL blamed the disruption on an overhead cable fault and apologised for the inconvenience caused.

The outages forced the early dismissal of schools, including Government High, Tiny Tots preschool, CW Sawyer Primary school, while renewing opposition criticism.

For families caring for elderly and vulnerable relatives, however, the prolonged outage presented more immediate challenges.

Barbara Wilson recounted to The Tribune yesterday her efforts to find generator fuel to keep her 86-year-old aunt’s electric bed running after their Stapledon Gardens home was left without power.

She said the elderly woman has been bedridden since suffering a stroke more than two years ago and is now being cared for by her sister.

“She's literally dying. She’s not able to sit up. She cannot speak. She has a tube in her stomach that she's being fed through,” she said, “and she's starting to get a pressure ulcer.”

She said the recent power outage posed a serious challenge for her sister, who relies on the electrical bed to safely reposition their aunt for eating, drinking and to keep comfortable.

“If you're not physically strong enough to do that, that's going be a difficult thing,” she said. “If they have to eat or drink, you can't do it with them lying flat on their back. There's procedures that need to be done with them sitting up, and so that has been a real inconvenience over the years.”

She said the family keeps a back-up generator for power outages, but it ran out of fuel. The family expected the power to be restored earlier yesterday morning but the outage continued until late morning.

“Even if you have a generator, there's no guarantees,” Mrs Wilson added. “You could run out of gas, the generator could go bad, and we understand that even BPL could have issues. But this is not normal. What is happening right now? It’s clear that there’s way more wrong than what is being said.”

She blamed the country’s ongoing power woes on years of neglect by successive administrations and called for the problems to be fixed.

FNM deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright also criticised the disruptions in a press statement yesterday, calling it unacceptable while declaring that the power crisis was “paralysing” the education system.

He urged the government to develop a contingency plan for schools when the electricity system fails, saying students and teachers deserve better.

“The government must therefore move beyond explanations and provide solutions,” Mr Cartwright added.

Sinymae Capron, head of Good Samaritan’s Senior Citizen Homes, said she was grateful for the cooler weather Wednesday night, saying residents did not have to endure the heat during the outage.

Still, she called the power cuts concerning and said the summer period was especially “bad.”

The prolonged disruption comes amid growing concern about the reliability of New Providence's electricity supply following repeated outages and load shedding this summer.

BPL and the Bahamas Grid Company has attributed recent disruptions to problems including cable failures, overloaded transformers, tripped feeders and breakers, damaged power lines, high temperatures and increased electricity demand.

BGC chief executive officer Dareo McKenzie said last month that the company plans to increase its workforce and use its international partnerships to bring in additional skilled workers for overhead and underground lines within the next eight to ten weeks.